The invention is directed to a pluggable assembly having a printed circuit board, having components secured to the printed circuit board and electrically connected thereto via interconnects, and having flat plugs secured to the printed circuit board and each respectively connected to one of the interconnects. A preferred area of employment of the invention is assemblies for motor vehicles that contain relays and electronic component parts such as, for example, diodes and resistors and are connected via plug-type connections.
British Patent GB 2 180 415 A, for example, discloses a pluggable assembly of a general type. Electronic components are arranged therein on a traditional printed circuit board which is in turn secured in a housing. Flat plugs conducted through the housing wall are soldered to the printed circuit board. The situation is similar in a load circuit module disclosed by German Patent DE 38 41 893 A1. There, too, terminal elements are soldered to the printed circuit board, whereby flat plugs are not, however, involved.
In an electrical switchgear disclosed by German Patent DE 33 45 701 A1, preferably two printed circuit boards are arranged parallel and are connected at one end to a base-like terminal plate whose surface carries sheet metal strips formed of a punched leadframe for contacting the interconnects with wound terminal pins in the base. The sheet metal strips have their respective ends soldered to the interconnects of the printed circuit boards.
German Patent DE 29 39 266 A1 discloses a structural unit composed of a relay and of a circuit board, whereby the terminal pins of the relay are conducted through the circuit board and form the terminals of the structural unit together with separate terminal pins of the circuit board. What is true of the circuit board in this structural unit as well as of the afore-mentioned printed circuit boards is that the superficially laminated interconnects are not suitable for carrying high load currents of a type that flow, for instance, in motor vehicle relays.
German Patent DE 37 06 964 A1 further discloses an electrical assembly having a plurality of components, whereby an actual printed circuit board is not present but the interconnects formed by a punched lattice or leadframe themselves form the supporting part of the assembly. These punched parts then also form integrally applied plugs.
In a socket for a miniature relay disclosed by German Patent DE 31 47 674 C2, metallic bridges plugged in an insulating member are also partly provided with integrally applied flat plugs. The socket, however, is only suitable for the adaptation of a single relay, so that no mention can be made of an assembly or of a printed circuit board having interconnects for connecting a plurality of components.